Marking Quilts

by Steffani McChesney

Lots of things have been used to mark quilts with varying success throughout the long history of quilting. When I was a kid living in Japan, just after the war, I saw tailors and seamstresses marking fabric with an ivory or bone implement that left a crease to use as a sewing line. Later, when I took up quilting I saw that same implement used to mark quilts for quilting. Nowadays they are called Hera markers. Everything old is new again. They actually work pretty well. I have one and I use it for machine quilting sometimes, if the design isn’t too elaborate.

Another technique I saw Asian tailors and seamstresses use was the needle scratch method where a needle is drawn across the fabric leaving a rough line on the surface for the stitcher to follow. Later, when I started quilting I saw this method described in old quilting books. I don’t think I would like this one because of the possible damage to the fabric.

If you look closely at American quilts from the early part of the 19th Century on you will see faint pencil marks We still use pencil today to mark quilts. Which proves that pencil is permanent so use a light hand when using one. I like the thin .05 mm mechanical pencils because they leave such a fine line.

Another old time marking method was using soap slivers. The only way I can see that soap would work is on dark fabric. This sounds good.  I don’t think it would rub off too easily and you would have a nice clean quilt when you washed it after you finished the quilting.

My grandmother (who didn’t quilt) told me about some of the methods my great-grandmother Susan Elizabeth ( who died 12 years before I was born) used to mark her quilts. She used perforated paper patterns and a cotton pad filled with cinnamon to mark her quilts. Some people used chalk in the pads. I’ll bet the spice smelled good but I would be afraid that the oil in the spice would leave a mark when the ground cinnamon was brushed off.

Deirdre McElroy, of Roxanne products, writes in her book That Perfect Stitch of inheriting a quilt from an aunt after she had passed away. She and her mother excitedly opened the box. Happiness turned to despair when they discovered that the quilt had been marked with the “latest in quilt marking tools,” a ballpoint pen. I definitely wouldn’t recommend using one. Talk about permanent. I wonder who came up with that bright idea.

I’m sure that there are lots of other old time ways to mark a quilt. These are just the ones I have heard of.

We live in a wonderful time of innovative gadgets to make our lives as quilters a lot easier. Quilt marking tools are numerous and varied making the choice of which one to use difficult. I don’t use the same one all the time. The one I use depends on the circumstances. Kind of like life, huh?

Lead pencils, the good old standby. You can still use a #2 yellow pencil. These work just fine but you have to sharpen them a lot and they sometimes smudge. My own personal favorite in this category is a .005 mm mechanical pencil using a 2 or 3 hard lead. They mark very lightly and don’t have to be sharpened all the time. And they don’t smudge. Remember, no matter what anyone says pencil marks never entirely disappear. Only mark them as dark as you need to see to quilt along them. These are good only on light fabrics.

Colored pencils, lots of choices here. There are many quilters’ pencils on the market usually in white, silver, and yellow, the choice depending on the color of the fabric being marked. These work just fine with two significant drawbacks. They have to be sharpened constantly and they break inside when tapped or dropped making it impossible to keep them sharpened. Clover makes a mechanical pencil with yellow or silver lead that works like the mechanical pencils mentioned above. My personal favorite, especially on black quilts, the lines disappear easily but remain long enough to get the work done. These are available at quilt shops.

Water markers. Yeah, I know, a lot of people use them but they just have too many drawbacks for me. The chemicals never really disappear out of the fabric. If you don’t get it all washed out, the ink can reappear as a brown line at a later time. The marking disappears on its own if the weather has been humid like it has this summer. If you get any kind of heat near the markings such as leaving it in a hot car you have a friend for life.

Soapstone pencils. These make a nice line and come out easily according to things I have read. I have never used them myself. They are available in quilt shops and need to be sharpened in a hand cranked pencil sharpener. They leave a pale gray line.

Chalk wheel markers. These work fine if you are going to quilt the object right away. The chalk is easy to see, comes in different colors, and brushes right off.

Hera markers. I use a Hera marker on black quilts that have simple quilting patterns, marking as I go so that I don’t have to wash the quilt when I am finished. They work very well if you are going to quilt immediately.

These are just some of the great marking tools available to the modern quilter. Be sure to give them a try but also be sure to test them before using them on your heirloom quilt. You want the beauty of your quilt to last for the future.